one queen, two princesses, & their jesters

It’s widely known that Moms rarely get any privacy in the bathroom. Once you have a child- especially a walking, talking one- a quiet moment on the potty while at home with said child is a miracle.

I knew this before having a baby, but it wasn’t a very big deal at first. I mean- a 10 month old is curious and grabby, but they don’t really know WHAT they’re grabbing for and they don’t really comprehend what they’re seeing.

But a 2 and a half year old? ASKS QUESTIONS.

I’ve tried to stay relaxed about letting Maggie watch me in the bathroom. For one thing, when it’s just the two of us at home, I don’t always trust her to be alone and wandering the house for too long. So if I’m going to be in the bathroom for more than 30 seconds (I’m a quick pee-er!), I’d actually prefer her to come in with me. Plus, I think it’s good for her to see how Grown Ups do it so she can finally be done with diapers and start using the toilet herself (which- that continues to be a work in progress. One step forward, two steps back. argh.)

But even more than that, I don’t want her to be ashamed of anything that goes on In The Bathroom, you know? I mean, yeah, at a certain age we’ll start keeping things private for all parties involved, but for now, I think it’s good to keep it all very natural and easy-breezy.

However, lately because she’s getting older and more inquisitive and OMG SMART, it’s getting tricky. Especially during that Special Lady Time for Mommy.

Today I was going about my, um, Lady Business real quick so we could head outside to play before dinner. And of course Maggie had to follow me into the bathroom. I had my supplies in hand, and immediately she started with the questions.

Maggie, pointing to the item my hand: “Wuts dat?!”

Me, trying to brush it off: “It’s just a Mommy Thing.”

Maggie: “On-nee for gwown-ups?”

Me: “Yup, only for grown ups.”

Maggie, crouching down in front of me and OH MY GOSH, staring at my crotch while I did something extremely private and well… kinda gross, really: “Wuts dat? Is dat for your bum?”

Me, having NO IDEA how to respond to that: “Yes, sweetie, it’s for my bum.”

Luckily I haven’t had a period in 4 years. Maybe if I can hold off another couple of years I’ll be in the clear (no chance of that happening, though, unless I get pregnant again which HA! not gonna happen).
.-= C @ Kid Things’s last blog post: In No Particular Order =-.

ha yeah we’ve learned to lock them now, if we’re both home and one of us needs to use the bathroom. She’ll barge right in! But she’s gotten into too much stuff when I’ve been occupied, so if I’m home alone with her, I just let her come in- at least I can see her then ;)

Ashley

I was about 3 or 4 and my mom was packing my Dad’s lunch. She usually packed one of those old V8 cans with him with a straw. Well, she had run out of straws that dad and told my dad, and I must’ve overheard the conversation. I got excited and told them not to worry – because I knew where we kept the ‘extra straws’. I came back with a tampon (it was wrapped like a straw from WaWa or McD’s!) and my mom actually packed it in his lunch and he took it to work (the police station)… LOL

sparkyd

Had to seriously stifle my laughter on this one lest I wake up the whole house. Couldn’t hold back the huge snort though. Too funny. We are very open about “bathroom business” for the same reasons you mentioned but I haven’t had to deal with that one yet thanks to getting pregnant again and it never even occurred to me. Worst I’ve had is DS1 thinking tampons are a fun toy (you know dumping them out of the box and all), which I guess they were since he went for them every time he came with me to the bathroom back in those (pre verbal) days.